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Warm weather and
hospitality highlight first Wayfarer Midwinters!
No report on this Midwinters can be started without mentioning two of our sailors who were the keenest to be there with us from the very first mention of the Midwinters idea. John and Dolores deBoer of Fanshawe made it into Ohio before their VW camper broke down – just days after getting a new engine! It turned out that they would be unable to get warranty work done unless they returned home. And so John and Dolores had to miss the Midwinters – and we most certainly missed them. Next year for sure, John and Dolores!!! This report is dedicated to Dolores and John. The initial
Wayfarer Midwinters are history. And what a fine piece
of history they turned out to be!! A warm high
pressure system blessed the 15 Wayfarers who took part
with warm 25ºC sunshine but did leave us a bit light
in the wind department. The lack of wind however, was
the only drawback as our hosts, the Lake Eustis SC,
bent over backwards to make sure we all got more than
our money’s worth for such a long trip!
And speaking of
making history, an event we’ve been eagerly awaiting
for years finally took place: our builder, Bill
Abbott, joined us for a regatta. Sailing with his son,
Bill III, the Soling Olympian stepped into W9235
borrowed from Scott Bamford and Brian Jeffs, and
sailed his first Wayfarer event as though he’d been at
it for years! In the 7-race, no-drop series, the
Abbotts got bad luck early. The were leading the first
race on the final beat to the finish when a 30º back
dropped them to 5th place. After this first-race
set-back, Bill and Bill recovered to push the
established Wayfarers to the limit before settling for
series 2nd (from 5-2-3-1-2-2-2 finishes) behind
(Uncle) Al Schönborn and Marc Bennett. The latter
sailed an impressively consistent 3-1-2-3-1-1-1 series
in the light, patchy and shifty winds to take the
title in the first Wayfarer Midwinter championship.
Third place went to the Lac Deschênes SC (Ottawa) team of Bill Fyfe and Frank (Wayfarer Man) Goulay sailing W937 WALRUS. Frank and Bill were only one point out of first after Friday’s 3 races but could not keep up with the Abbotts or Uncle Al as the winds went really light – long stretches of 1-2 knots on Saturday and Sunday. Also part of team WALRUS were Bill’s wife, Dorothy, who must have enjoyed being at a regatta where she didn’t have to spend all her time making lunches, and Frank’s fiancée, Lucy, who videotaped the action for future study on those long, cold winter nights! Toronto’s Wayfarer cover maker extraordinaire, Hans Gottschling, drove down to Florida with his wife and former crew, Mudl. There, they extracted Wayfarer great, André LaFramboise, out of Wayfarer retirement. Sailing WALRUS’ sister-ship, W938 NUTSHELL, Hans and André found instant success as they won race #1 and went on to take series 4th. André had not raced a Wayfarer event since his 6th-place finish with young Peter Rahn (our current CWA Chairman!) as crew in the 1980 Wayfarer Worlds at Tawas Bay in Michigan. André still has a home near Montréal but winters in Florida these days. He and his ‘main squeeze’, Monika, made the daily two-hour drive to Eustis from their Cocoa Beach home on the Atlantic. After our drive to Florida, that didn’t seem like too much, but come to think of it, it would be like sailing the Pumpkin regatta in London, Ontario and going home to Toronto each night – something your Uncle Al did only once! Something that your Uncle Al forgot until he was already out sailing was the matter of Most Improved flags. Fortunately, this turned out to be a moot point, since not a single entry of the 7 that had a previous (Wayfarer) record improved on their seed – what with 8 unseeded entries with good talent in the mix! If there had been flags, they would have gone to Hans and André, as well as to Uncle Al and Marc, who at least matched their seed! Another Wayfarer first was that the Midwinters permitted single-handing, since most of the LESC sailors sail that way on a regular basis. The LESC in fact had a separate set of prizes for the boats being sailed single-handed and/or without spinnakers which this year included 7 Wayfarers. And when you think of single-handing, who springs to mind in Wayfarers? Frank Dye, of course! So, unless anyone should object, we’ll call this the Frank Dye Division. Leading the Frank Dye Division was the “local rabbit”, Gale Shoemaker, who was also 5th overall. For Gale, an excellent 2nd in Saturday’s first race turned into the tie-breaker as he finished in a points tie with Joe DeBrincat of Walled Lake, Michigan. Sailing with his
son, Jeff, Joe scored 10-9 before getting used to a
brand new suit of sails and completing the series with
a 5-4-5-6-3 flourish. After losing the tie-breaker at
42 points, the DeBrincats ended up in series 6th. Also
enjoying life as the MALTESE FALCON shore team were
Joe’s wife, Vicky, and their lovely and loveable young
daughter, Noelle.
Toronto Sailing & Canoe Club’s Geoff Edwards and George Waller started the series with a fine 4-5-4 in Friday’s 6-10 knot winds but could not find the same speed as the winds lost their zip. George and Geoff ended up a solid series 7th, just ahead of light air aces, Bob Frick and Peter Every, of Waterford, Michigan. The latter had the reverse strengths to Geoff and George, getting better and better as the winds faded. Bob and Peter did particularly well in the finale where they led Uncle Al and the pursuing pack for the first sausage, and ended up scoring a 4-5 on the Sunday. Also part of this team was Bob’s wife, Milly, who seemed to take to the Florida life as though born to it. But then, didn’t we all??!! No culture shock for Uncle Al, that’s for sure! The remaining 7 boats were very competitive with each other and it is intesting to note that all 15 entries finished at least one race of the series in single digits! Leading this group and taking the 2nd prize in the Frank Dye Division (9th overall) was Jim McIntyre of LESC. A fine performance for Jim who, despite sailing an old boat with even older sails, edged that wily veteran from Walled Lake, Michigan, Hubert Dauch by a couple of points. Hubert’s lovely wife, Phyllis, fell on ice during the trip south and had back pain that prevented her from sailing (but not from enjoying weather and the hospitality!) Thus, Hubert was part of the Frank Dye Division on Friday before the Saturday arrival of Brian Tomlin, a friendly Norfolk Englishman who visits his sister in Florida each year at this time and who plans to sail with us at the Midwinters on a regular basis. Hubert and Brian rounded out the top 10 in the series. 3rd in the Frank
Dye Division and 11th overall was Regatta
Chairman, Bob Brown. Bob and his lovely wife, Joyce,
did much of the work for this marvellous event, and
have asked me to mention the following people who gave
much of their time, talent and enthusiasm so that this
event became the undoubted success that it was:
Regatta Chair-persons -
Dotty and Mike Murto, Bob Brown Joyce and Bob were also your Uncle Al’s and Marc’s personal hosts. In addition to doing his regatta-related duties, Bob spent much of the two days before the Midwinters showing us the local (and not so local!) places of interest and beauty. On the Wednesday it was an aerial tour with pilot Bob in his 6-seater airplane showing us the local lakes system that includes Lake Eustis. As a special treat and surprise, Bob landed for a refreshment stop in the story book setting of Cedar Key, a tiny island off the northern part of Florida in the Gulf of Mexico. The return trip from ‘downtown’ Cedar Key to the small airstrip even included a quick guided tour of Cedar Key’s “best spots” from Cedar Key’s lone taxi driver, Judy! But the day’s fun was not over with the flying! A bunch of the local sailors were going to the Smokehouse Grill in Tavares to test the cuisine since that establishment was to cater the big Saturday evening dinner at the Midwinters. Both that dinner and the test run were absolutely delicious! The next day, Marc and I got the tour of the lakes in Bob’s motor boat. The undoubted highlight of this tour was a dawdle through the jungle-like setting of the Dora Canal where we saw tons of interesting birds – and our one and only alligator of the trip! On top of all these duties, Bob took delivery of a beautiful, brand new red and white Abbott Mark III on Friday morning before the racing began. We all pitched in and had Bob ready to sail in time for the 12:30 p.m. start of race #1. The only
northern crew that flew down to Florida was the
Armstrong team from TS&CC. Young Graham helmed
W1492 with his dad, Gary, as crew. This boat was
kindly made available by Dr Robert Hart who was unable
to sail due to heart surgery. A really cosmopolitan
boat, this one, as the Armstrongs used a suit a sails
borrowed from Joe DeBrincat. Despite a rather
unfortunate DSQ in race 3, and DNS for races 6 and 7
so that they could do the tourist things, Graham and
Gary took a Frank Dye Div. 4th and 12th
overall.
The “father” of the LESC Wayfarer Fleet, Mike Murto, was just a couple of points back of the Armstrongs in 13th. Mike, who started the Florida Wayfarer Fleet by bringing down a Wayfarer each time he came south, must have been proud to see this great Midwinters take place largely due to his efforts. Thanks, Mike! Your Uncle Al finally got to put faces to e-mail acquaintences, Erik and Vicky Beauchamp (W1378) of Sarasota via la province de Québec, who were able to sail with us on Saturday and Sunday. It was this lovely young couple’s stated intention to just “follow the fleet and keep out of the way” but Erik and Vicky got right into the racing beautifully and did not look out of place on the race course at all! Their Wayfarer will now lie idle for a year or so as the Beauchamps are off to spend a year in Nice on France’s Côte d’Azur!!! But they do expect to join us again at the 2002 Midwinters!!! 15th place went to Peter Hylen of LESC. Peter did well on the Friday but left in a huff after a Friday protest (which he won!). Unfortunate – especially since he seemed to take the wind with him… Surprises… All the participating boats won a memento of this historic event but the climax of the awards presentations was yet to come: Bob Frick, speaking on behalf of USWA Commodore, Mike Anspach, presented an Fleet charter to Mike Murto and Bob Brown of the Lake Eustis SC Wayfarer Fleet which is now officially USWA Fleet 3! And still the fun was not done! Regular Whiffle readers will no doubt be asking themselves: “So where was George Blanchard? How long was his speech?” Well, let me tell you: After having converted a 1st to a 3rd at the end of the final beat of Saturday’s first race, your Uncle Al was lying on the floorboards, getting a tan, having a little nap and generally falling short of the observational type things that a racer might do between races in shifty conditions. I thought I must have been dreaming since I could have sworn that from an approaching motor boat, I had heard a George Blanchard-type accent. It was enough to make me sit up. What a magnificent surprise to discover that it wasn’t a dream at all but the real thing! And not only that, but George was there with his minder, long-time Wayfarer/CL16 sailor, Dennis Langley, who now lives not too far away near Tampa. How great it was to see both Dennis and George – and yes, George did make a speech and he did thank the kitchen staff. All in all, the
consensus of the travellers was that it was eminently
worthwhile to make the trip, and I guess we’ll have to
do it again next year, if only to make sure that John
and Dolores deBoer get a chance to experience the
beauty of this event!!!
REGATTA SYNOPSIS: #1 (attempt
#1): winds SW 8-10 knots; course #6: 2 sausages +
windward RC Boat end
slightly favoured. Uncle Al got off to the best start
right at the RC boat although Wayfarer Man has video
evidence shot from the port end line boat that shows
that the RC must have been in a kind mood as Al was an
inch or two over when the start signal went. Be that
as it may, it was Hans Gottschling who banged the left
corner who came out with the lead at the first
windward mark, followed closely by Bill Abbott, Bill
Fyfe and Uncle Al. Lucking in on some good wind
streaks (and Marc’s fine spi work, of course!) Uncle
Al sailed the rhumb line best and was rewarded with a
slight lead over Bill Fyfe as the leaders approached
the leeward mark for the first time. In a total
departure from form, Uncle Al noticed that the RC boat
was flying a green flag. This rang alarm bells in Al’s
head. He handed the tiller to Marc, rummaged for and
found the SI’s, and sure enough – there
it was: green flag = RC boat on station to finish
Al pointed this out to Bill just behind him and these two crossed the finish line while most of the rest of the fleet rounded onto beat #2. Well, it turned out that the green flag was not intended and the RC wisely abandoned the race. #1 (attempt #2 – successful!): winds
SW 5-8 knots; course #6
Boat end favoured once more. Hubert Dauch and Bill Fyfe got great starts about one third of the way down the line and held left while Bill Abbott and Uncle Al went middle right. By the start of the third and final beat, there was a good close fight over the lead. Bill Abbott rounded first with Bill Fyfe so close behind that he ended up hitting the mark while avoiding Bill A. who had slowed down in his rounding. Only about 3 lengths later came Hans Gottschling who tacked to avoid the mess at the mark where Bill Fyfe was busy with a 360. This left Al to follow just another 2-3 lengths back. Almost immediately after rounding, Al noticed that he had more wind and was pointing better than the Abbotts. Soon SHADES had sailed past the Abbotts to windward but a quick look to windward showed Hans and Bill F. with even better port tack lifts. A futile wait by Bill A. and Al for a return shift. At the finish, Bill Fyfe almost snatched victory from Hans who sailed along the line to the unfavoured end before crossing just one length in front of Bill. Coming in from the right, Al was hard pressed to beat Geoff Edwards who in turn edged out poor Bill Abbott who had fallen from 1st to 5th on one shift! Leading the single-handers were Gale Shoemker (6th) and Hubert Dauch (7th) before Bob Frick took 8th ahead of Graham Armstrong who managed a good 9th in his first Wayfarer race using a borrowed boat without spinnaker. #2: winds SW
5-8 knots; course #6 #3:
winds SW 4-8 knots; course #6 Friday evening: It was
tons of pizza and beer al fresco at the club and a
well earned rest after three tough races. Except for
the protest committee of Ken Schwandt, Frank Keenan
and Uncle Al who had to decide a pair of protests and
got cold pizza for their
pains – but the beer was still flowing and cold, thank
goodness!
And then it was early to bed for most – with Uncle Al considering the strategic implications of the close 4-way fight over first in this no-drop series which saw the following: Al
S.
3-1-2 6
pts
Bill
F. 2-4-1 7
pts Saturday morning dawned a bit overcast but with a lovely 8-10 knot breeze from the south. Unfortunately, our kind hosts had decided not to rush us out of bed too fast and the first race was not scheduled ‘til 12:30 p.m. Murphy’s Law being what it is, the winds were of course dying by the time race #4 got underway. #4: 1:00 p.m. - winds S 5-0 knots;
pin end favoured; course #6.
Bill Abbott and Uncle Al tacked to port right after the start to clear their air. A major veer shortly thereafter left these two virtually laying the windward mark on starboard tack. Unfortunately for Bill, Al got his nose out in front and Bill had to sail the looong layline in Al’s dirt. Still, these two rounded with a comfortable lead with Al up about 5 lengths on Bill. The intended run had now become a broad port tack reach. While Al sailed the rhumbline, Bill went higher and took down his jib to help the spi get undisturbed air in the slowly dying winds. Al watched with interest (and some dismay!) as Bill proceeded to eat up Al’s lead and end up with buoy room at the leeward mark. A course change had been announced for beat 2 but an eagle-eyed Marc Bennett noticed that the wind had veered even more and that a quick tack around the mark should leave us almost laying the new windward mark. Thus, being first around the mark did not really help Bill who had Al so close astern around the mark that Bill could not tack without the risk of fouling Al. So Al tacked first and got to do what he does best, pinch out from underneath another boat. It must have been frustrating for Bill who again had to sail virtually the whole leg in Al’s backwind. This time, Al held his 20-metre lead down the run at the end of which yet another course change was announced as the 1 or 2 knots of winds that were left seemed to have settled in the SW. Bill went far left and Uncle Al accompanied him, again making sure he remained positioned between Bill and the finish line. Meanwhile, Bill Fyfe had recovered well from a poor start and was looking good going up the middle. Since Bill Fyfe was Al’s closest series pursuer – only one point behind – Al decided to tack when he got to what appeared to be the layline to the finish. Bill Abbott and Gale Shoemaker who was going like a train with only himself in the boat in about one knot of breeze, went another 200 metres further left before tacking. This turned out to be the move as there was more wind further out in the lake and Bill came rolling in from the left to take an easy first. Al was shocked to see Gale tack to starboard a boatlength leeward of him about 50 metres from the finish from where he simply outgurgled Al to a 2nd-place finish. Al did however, manage to hold 3rd over Joe DeBrincat who continued to look excellent. Bill Fyfe ended up hard pressed to beat out Bob Frick for 5th while Hans Gottschling had a serious dent made in his title hopes with a 7th. The lighter airs did not suit Geoff Edwards who fell to 8th on the final beat while the Beauchamps, Erik and Vicky, made a most auspicious Wayfarer début with a fine 9th-place finish which was second-best among the non-spinnaker boats. #5: winds S 2-6
knots; course #6 shortened to 3 legs Saturday evening: A
wonderful dinner catered by the Smokehouse Grill
was seriously enjoyed by all. An attempt was made to
view the Lucy Camacho videos of the racing but there
was no TV. The next morning, Jim McIntyre brought his
TV but forgot the remote so that the tapes remained
unviewed by all except Frank who spent some of his
valuable breakfast time, squinting into the small
viewing screen of his camera!
The rest of us enjoyed a fine breakfast provided and made by the LESC club members. Our palates thank you, Joyce and Bob Brown, Charles and Martha Harrington, Dotty and Mike Murto, Dennis Oldham, Annabel Hart and Mona Shoemaker! The series title race had been pretty well reduced to Al Schönborn at 10 pts, Bill Abbott at 13 pts and Bill Fyfe at 15 pts as we went out for the final pair of races in partly cloudy, warm but nearly windless skies. #6:
winds S 0-3 knots; course #6 shortened to 4 legs. #7: winds SW 6 knots, down to 0 at
the start and back up to S at 8 knots off the wind,
finally back to SW about 5 knots; course: double
sausage; start about 12:30 p.m.
It appeared that the RC had made a mistake in trying to start us as the wind dropped to virtually nothing during the 2-3 minutes before the start. Bill Abbott managed to tack onto port right at the RC boat shortly after the gun with Joe DeBrincat and Al following his good example soon after that. Al had concentrated on starting with what speed he could and this paid off as he outmoved both Bill A. and Joe. When these three tacked to starboard to go for the windward mark, they discovered that someone had been even faster than they: Bob Frick and Peter Every came in from the left and rounded with a nice 100 yard lead in an increasing breeze that was backing enough to give the boats a close spi reach down the “run”. When Bob was kind enough to luff his mainsail and take his spi down early, Al was able to get buoy room at the leeward mark. Keeping a loose cover on Bill Abbott, Al went middle right and left Bob to go the other way after yet another course change had been made to give us a beat. It turned out that the right side paid a bit more than the left so that Al, Bill Abbott, and Joe DeBrincat, after a nice relaxing run in 4-6 knots of breeze placed 1-2-3 while Bill Fyfe continued his pattern of falling behind early before coming back to snatch 4th from Bob Frick. Hans Gottschling took 6th before the first single-hander crossed in the shape of, who else? Gale Shoemaker. Congratulations to Gale who was first single-hander to finish in all 7 races!!! Following Gale was Geoff Edwards while our very loveable host and tour guide – not to mention Regatta Chairman – Bob Brown was next across and 2nd-place finisher among the single-handers! A cheerful awards ceremony followed and the unanimous feeling among the visitors was that we would love if the Lake Eustis SC would ask us back next next year. And Bob Brown has tentatively given us a date for a 2001 Midwinters at Lake Eustis SC. Subject to approval by the LESC memberships we’ll see you at LESC on Feb. 9-11 for the 2001 Wayfarer Midwinters!!! On behalf of all of us visitors
for whom you did so much, so well: a
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